


I'm Gonna Be Bad For You Baby

by Littleshimmerofhope



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: A little dark and angsty?, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Bitter wonwoo, First Meeting, Light Angst, M/M, Minghao appears birefly, Mingyu is a freshman, One Shot, Seungcheol is named, Wonwoo is a dealer, flirty mingyu, meanie, meanie couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 01:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8947672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littleshimmerofhope/pseuds/Littleshimmerofhope
Summary: They played roles in two completely different movies, and mixing the romantic comedy of Mingyu's life with his melancholic drama didn't seem like it'd make a very good cocktail in Wonwoo’s opinion. Mingyu was a slice of a life Wonwoo would never get to have, and while it was absolutely enticing to get a glimpse of, staring in through a window at everything he would never have for a longer time would only do Wonwoo more harm than good in the end, and he knew this very well. He should've known that he wouldn't be able to leave Mingyu be.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Another oneshot, this time about a meeting between Mingyu and Wonwoo, two boys who come from two completely different worlds but end up standing across from one another on the pathway of life anyway.
> 
> Meeting people can bring something into your life, sometimes something good and exciting, sometimes something bad and painful, but every meeting gives a lesson and something you carry with you when facing future encounters.
> 
> Go ahead and read, leave a kudos, maybe a comment, maybe a little love, and then carry on my friend. Peace.
> 
> Can also be described as: one random morning Wonwoo wakes up to Mingyu who's one hell of a chef, believes Wonwoo is a genie, and flirts shamelessly with him from the get-go. At one point, a wild and angry roommate appears and Wonwoo struggles not to give the cute boy his number.  
> Legit? Legit. Lmao, have fun~

###  _When two universes collide, they bring upon birth and destruction._

* * *

☄☄☄

 

Wonwoo came to gradually, peeling his eyes open to squint at the bright, unfamiliar ceiling above his head. He blinked sluggishly to rid his eyes of the final wisps of sleep and took in his surroundings. He was lying on a couch (the muscles in his back were complaining after being subjected to the firm underlay for the entire night and Wonwoo's left arm was asleep) in a narrow living room. A flower-patterned blanket had been thrown over him to persumably serve as a poor duvet to keep him warm, and now it lay halfway discarded on the floor beside the couch.

Someone was moving about and messing with kitchenware, the occasional 'clang' of a pan meeting another or simply being moved sounding through the otherwise still air. Feeling dizzy, Wonwoo pulled a face.

He grabbed the backrest of the couch and hauled himself up, mapping the inside of the simple apartment he was in with his eyes as he tried to recall the day before.

The living space was messy, traces of the crazy party that had been buzzing until late at night eminent by the empty beer cans and randomly discarded items — clothes, glitter, packs of cigarettes and lighters, the occasional missplaced shoe — thrown on the floor or strewn over the other furnitures in the room.

Wonwoo remember tagging along with one of Seungcheol's friends that shared one class with him to the party, and he can vaguely recall stumbling through a door into a sea of people and music.

He remembers sharing his joint with some curious kids on the balcony at some point in the night, and he thinks he might've landed some deals in a bedroom closet (that memory was a little hazy, though.)

Other than that, Wonwoo didn't remember much and he stared at a mark in the wall across from him, feeling disoriented and almost keen on just lying back down, pretend that the day hadn’t started yet and continue to sleep off his hangover. He could do with some more rest. Preferably one that lasted one hundred years, he mused.

He didn't know where he was or whom's apartment he happened to be in, but that was just as well, because Wonwoo didn't really care. What he cared about was falling back asleep, but he never got that far as someone joined him in the room and noticed that he was awake.

"Oh, hey. You're up. You feeling okay?"

Wonwoo turned his head to stare at the stranger standing in the doorway that he vaguely recalled lead into a tiny kitchen with a slight crease between his brow and hazy vision. His lenses must've fallen out sometime during the night. It wasn't bothersome, but he had to squint to see the curve of the young, unfamiliar male's face. He assumed that this was the owner of the apartment, and Wonwoo found it strange, but he hadn't met him yesterday.

"... yeah. Fine." Wonwoo grunted finally, accepting that he would have to get home before he could nap some more and feeling grouchy and gross as he stood from the couch and the world tilted slightly around him.

The younger male — who was tall, taller than him Wonwoo could tell now that he'd stood up — eyed him like he knew Wonwoo was feeling like crap but didn't feel like it was his place to make a remark or question his choice of response.

"Alright." He said, and Wonwoo thought the guy had a nice, smooth voice. Not as dark as his, but with a nice clang, which probably made his friends and teachers enjoy listening to him speak. "I made breakfast. Would you like some? It's just bacon and eggs, so nothing fancy, but..." The guy trailed off and looked at the dark stranger standing in the middle of the living room with his ripped jeans, slouched shoulders and sharp, slitted eyes, waiting for his answer.

Eggs and bacon sounded fancy to Wonwoo, who usually didn't eat breakfast at all. (His roommate argued he barely ate anything, during anytime, of any day, but Wonwoo shut him up by telling him that if that had been true, he wouldn't have been alive, so he does, in fact, eat. Just not often, or a lot at a time.)

There was a dull throbbing in the back of his skull, not quite a headache but something similar to it, and the thought of food had Wonwoo's uneasy stomach churn slightly like it did when it had suffered breaking down alcohol and other substances the entire night and couldn’t handle any preassure.

"... Okay." Wonwoo had no idea why he agreed, but the stranger gave him a weak tweak of the lips (maybe a small smile?) and seemed happy to share with him.

"Great. Come on into the kitchen. Just follow me."

Wonwoo did and trailed after the bright haired guy at a slower pace into the room holding a small table where everyone had shared shots the night before, a small kitchenette with a few plates and a stove, a small refrigerator, an oven, a microwave as well as a coffee brewer which was running and filling the small, green painted room with the distinct smell of coffee beans.

Wonwoo stared at the table and saw flashes of some blonde girl laughing after having tipped back her third glass of tequila from the night before, but they were gone as soon as he blinked.

The table was already cleared, and while the glasses had been moved to the sink, although they had yet to be washed, the kitchen was already a lot more tidy than Wonwoo would have expected it to be.

"You can sit down if you'd like." The male had glanced at him over his shoulder while he busied himself by the stove where he was frying bacon in one pan and whipping together scrambled eggs in another.

Wonwoo did as he was told and watched the stranger season and scramble the eggs swiftly, finding himself curious of the smile playing on the man's lips while he cooked.

"You like cooking?"

The other looked surprised by his baritone voice and cast him a quizzical glance over his shoulder.

"You're able to tell from just watching me fry bacon and make scrambled eggs?" His laugh was nice too, and he had a handsome smile well suited to his face, Wonwoo noted now that he could observe him from more up-close.

He leant back in his chair and let his eyes travel along the edge of the window to his right absentmindedly, looking over the odd trinkets and unimportant items balanced there.

"Kitchen's clean." He voiced what he’d noted and the other pulled a face, something that told Wonwoo that he was impressed by his obsrvation and skill of deduction, having correctly figured that he had a preference for cooking because of the state of the kitchen.

"I do like cooking." He confirmed and a silence settled between them while the stranger finished up the breakfast.

Wonwoo was given a plate differing from the one the stranger had (glancing at the stack of plates on a shelf, Wonwoo noted they were all odd and he found the detail kind of charming) and soon the table was set with the two pans between them and utensils and glasses and juice hastily retrieved from the shelves and cupboards and the refrigerator and scattered across the table.

The stranger offered to serve Wonwoo first, which Wonwoo let him do with a shrug, watching idly as the other hauled food onto his plate before he handed it back to him and scraped the rest of the eggs and bacon onto his own plate before settling down in the chair across from Wonwoo.

"–’M Mingyu, by the way." The stranger introduced himself with bacon in his mouth. "This is my apartment."

Wonwoo took the offered hand and shook it lazily, noting that the other had a strong and firm grip — one that would be appreciated in meetings or on interviews where it was important to leave an impression in the future — and also how warm his fingers were before they retreated to the others side of the table again.

"I figured." He said and debated whether or not he should give the stranger across from him his real name, if it would prove to be risky for him or not.

Mingyu arched an eyebrow, his mouth turning up into an amused smile as he chewed on another fork of eggs behind his hand.

"You don't have one?" He asked after a while of watching the male across from him nudge around the food on his plate, catching his eyes when he looked up after being addressed. "A name? Something I can call you in my mind instead of _'dark stranger'_?"

Mingyu's laugh was bright and beautiful and from an entirely different world than Wonwoo's, so he thought _'fuck it. What harm will it do?_ ' and threw his worries out the window.

He gave the other a listless tweak of his lips.

"Wonwoo." He said and Mingyu's smile widened as he saw the soft smile on Wonwoo's face.

"That's a nice name." He commented and Wonwoo shrugged and brought a fork of eggs to his lips.

"I wouldn't have minded being _‘dark stranger’_ though."

"And he has humour!" Mingyu exclaimed, and Wonwoo wondered how this human being could be so bright and charming and if he could actually function in the real world on a daily basis. "Sharp witted, huh. That's cool." Mingyu hummed.

Wonwoo could feel the other watch him keenly when he put the food into his mouth, and he quickly understood why as his expression turned into one of mild surprise at the smooth flavours enveloping his tastebuds.

Across from him Mingyu laughed when he caught him eyeing the food strangely and Wonwoo found himself admiring the smooth skin of the other's neck as he'd thrown his head back in his laughter.

"You have a nice face, did you know that?" Mingyu said and looked at him. His unexpected compliment had Wonwoo startle and he must've made a weird face because the stranger laughed again. "I meant like, expressions and reactions. They flash across your face very clearly and makes it easy to read."

That was the first time anyone had said something like that to Wonwoo, and he knew for a fact that it wasn't true. He was known to be very hard to read, what with his usually expressionless and stoic face. He rarely smiled and was never exceptionally social with others, which in turn had made people think he was cold and scary from just his distant persona and the sharp glare of his eyes.

Wonwoo didn't mind being viewed like this, as it actually helped him in his small business of dealing on the side of his studies, because people thought he looked frightening but cool and tended to not mess with him. (Those who actually got to know him though knew that he was kind at heart and looked out for his friends. But very few ever bothered to befriend him like that.)

So Wonwoo didn't buy Mingyu's words at all and looked at the other strangely for a long time before he stared down at the food in front of him again.

"You're good." He cleared his throat and changed the subject, but also being genuine with his compliment and Mingyu was easily distracted by his approval, latching onto his words.

"Thanks." He grinned charmingly at Wonwoo. "I actually study business management to learn everything about economy, supply and demand, and all that shit, so that I one day may be able to open my own business."

So, people like this really existed, Wonwoo thought. Those who had their entire lives figured out and a dream to chase. That certainty and determination was something Wonwoo lacked and therefore envied in others.

"... Good luck, I guess." He said and took another bite, telling himself not to feel sullen or affected by this seemingly perfect guy he’d woken up to this morning, as well as trying not to compare them to each other since he knew it'd just make him bitter about his own lot in life.

"Thank you! Oh, and I'm also a freshman. Started just this autumn." Mingyu beamed again, kindly watching him while he ate and Wonwoo was slightly struck by how young the male was. Five years younger than him, but already with so much promise. It made him feel like sighing and rolling his eyes. (He didn't though, because he didn't want the other to catch him and think he was ungrateful for his kindness) "What about you?"

"What about me?" Wonwoo answered coolly and Mingyu chuckled at his evasive tone.

"Well, I just told you my age, my dream _and_ my major, and I was hoping that maybe Mr. _'Dark and handsome'_ would tell me about his dream, or life, or anything interesting about himself in general to return the favour." Mingyu folded his arms on the edge of the table and leant over it towards Wonwoo, and Wonwoo eyed his open expression and easy smile.

"So, it's _'dark and handsome'_ now?" He couldn't help but smugly repeat, one corner of his lips turning upwards into a humoured smirk.

Mingyu didn't appear embarrassed, his smile simply widening as he tilted his head to the side and continued to observe Wonwoo over their breakfast.

"It was _'dark and handsome'_ from the beginning, but I'm starting to think maybe _'mysterious beauty'_ would suit you better."

It was actually amusing; this guy's lack of shame, and Wonwoo felt his lips tug into a genuine smile as he took another bite of the bacon the other had cooked, his body more welcoming to the nutrient than he had thought it would be.

"Then," he pretended to ponder as he chewed and pointed to Mingyu with his fork after he'd swallowed. "You'll be _'brat'_."

Mingyu laughed again, and yup, it was definitely an unfairly pleasant sound.

"What the heck. That's not fair. Mine were nice and poetic and shit. Not insulting." He said through a grin and Wonwoo jerked his head dismissively, shrugging.

" _'Kid',_ then."

"Why?" Mingyu wanted to know.

"Because you are one." Wonwoo looked at the youngster's face and saw the entertained glint in the other's eyes.

"You're funny." Mingyu leant back and returned to his own plate, taking large and full forks of his food into his mouth. "Since you’re calling me _'kid'_ , that means you're older than me right?" He spoke with food in his mouth again and Wonwoo felt a strange satisfaction from finding that the other wasn't totally perfect after all. "How old are you? Or mustn’t I ask?"

"I'm immortal." Wonwoo replied impassively to Mingyu’s snicker, amused when the other’s expression turned perplexed.

"Oh shit!" The other exclaimed and put down his knife. "Don't tell me you're like a, like a genie, bound to walk the earth for all of time and fulfil the wishes of lone, ambitious souls for the rest of eternity?"

Wonwoo was taken aback at first, but then he did picked up on the tiny hint of sarcasm in the other’s tone — a type of humour that he could appriciate — and his lips turned upwards into a small smile.

"... A genie named _Wonwoo?_ " He asked and Mingyu nodded assertedly.

" _Wonwoo_ is definitely a genie name."

Wonwoo couldn't help when he snorted, finally breaking out into soft chuckles at the other's weird fantasies and Mingyu seemed happy to have made him laugh.

"So, since you've come to my humble abode, Mr. _Genie Wonwoo_ _sir_ , then that must mean you're here to offer me and fulfil three wishes of mine."

"That's right." Mingyu was fascinating, Wonwoo decided as he agreed. He was very lively and warm and not unfamiliar at all, even though they didn't know each other. But that feeling of simplicity in their interactions is what made Wonwoo feel like it was maybe okay to indulge him a little. Maybe even get to know him. (And that in itself was a dangerous thought.)

"Okay, wow.” Mingyu pretended to be greatly moved, making dramatic gestures and exaggerating his voice as he went on. “I didn't expect to my life to turn out so _fortunate_ , I — I mean, I've always been a lucky kid, but... but this... I — I'm shook. I — I want to start off by thanking the universe for favouring me, my — my parents for giving birth to me and raising me into the fine person that I am today, my —"

A door opened somewhere in the apartment, and an annoyed voice startled Wonwoo from his amused observation of Mingyu's dramatisation of his made-up circumstance as it reached them through the doorway of the kitchen.

"Gyu! It's not even _8 AM,_ quiet the fuck down before I come out there and shut you up myself!"

Wonwoo gave Mingyu a quizzical look but the other appeared far from intimated by the threat, raising his voice as he shouted back.

" _And_ I'd like to thank my _grumpy roommate_ for hosting a rowdy as heck party that had our landlord give us a warning via _text — !"_

The door was slammed shut again and Mingyu looked satisfied by the turn of events, smirking to himself before he turned back to Wonwoo.

"Roommate disputes. Sorry." He grinned and Wonwoo recalled one of the guys out on the balcony last night, a scrawny redhead with fierce eyes and fluid movements that had seemed very familiar in the apartment and a name popped into his head.

" _Hao?_ " He questioned and Mingyu nodded.

" _Minghao_ , actually. But yup, that was him."

Wonwoo recognised that he distantly knew the boy as a friend of a friend of his roommate and he nodded his head absentmindedly.

"He was difficult to get along with at first, and since he was a sophomore I was really scared of him when I moved in." Mingyu laughed as he reminisced in the scared and uncertain him of the beginning of his first year. "But he turned out to just be a guy with harsh words — all bark no bite, really — and actually a pretty sweet guy at heart. He only moved here four years ago, and he's already so fluent at the language." Mingyu continued and Wonwoo noted that he spoke kindly of his roommate.

Part of him was reminded of his own relationship to Seungcheol — his roommate — and how they had struggled and grown close over the years, their friendship having blossomed into something steady and something he found himself nowadays relying heavily on without really thinking about it. He wondered if maybe Mingyu and Minghao would come to have a relationship akin to theirs in the future.

Mingyu's roommate's interruption had reminded Wonwoo that he was indeed in someone else's home and that he ought to return to his own place.

He'd actually almost finished all of the breakfast on his plate, which was a pretty good accomplishment on his side and he nodded towards the plate while holding Mingyu's gaze.

"Thanks for the food."

The other eyed the remains on his plate and Wonwoo wondered if the other thought he hadn't enjoyed it as much as he'd said since he wasn't familiar with Wonwoo's eating habits.

But when Mingyu looked up at him again, he was smiling, so at least he didn't seem to be offended.

"It was no problem. Are you leaving?" His eyes followed Wonwoo when he stood and Wonwoo lingered awkwardly by the table for a moment.

"Uh, yeah. I should get back to... my own place." He said, unsure if he should be feeling apologetic towards Mingyu or sad that he had to go, neither of which he was feeling as he looked back at the other and met his eyes. They were strangres, after all.

"Alright." Mingyu said easily and stood, following him out into the living room/hall like a courteous host. "You got everything?" He asked while Wonwoo checked his pockets and looked for his shoes in the hallway.

At the question, Wonwoo's eyes drifted to a pack of cigarettes he'd spotted when he woke up, carelessly discarded in the dark bookcase along one of the walls and he went over and picked it up, checking if it was empty and findign that it wasn't. He turned to Mingyu and held it up.

"These yours?"

Mingyu raised one of his eyebrows at him  — as if the idea of Wonwoo smoking had miffed him — before he shook his head and Wonwoo pocketed the cigarettes much to the other's apparent amusement.

He trudged past Mingyu into the narrow hallway and stepped into his boots that had seen better days, not bothering to tie them before he slipped into his oversized, dark denim jacket and turned back to Mingyu who'd been watching him in the meanwhile.

"Thanks again. For the food." He said, feeling an awkward atmosphere between them since they were unsure whether they should be saying goodbye like you did with a friend or just part without any significant farewell, since they didn't actually know each other. (Did sharing a meal with someone count as befriending them?)

Well, Wonwoo _sort of_ knew about Mingyu now; the freshman with a clear dream and goal, who was ambitious and funny and charming and would probably get where he wanted to go one day without any major or unfortunate incidents to stain his life and the roommate he at the moment considered kind of a jerk as his best friend supporting him on the most important occassions of his life. That sounded about right when it came to Mingyu's future, Wonwoo thought.

It was Mingyu who still didn't know anything about Wonwoo, except for his name, and it seemed as if this didn’t satisfy the younger male.

"You're welcome, Wonwoo. Before you leave," He halted Wonwoo who'd already laid his hand on the door handle and was about to open it just to turn back to give Mingyu a questioning look when he was kept back by the other’s inquiry. Mingyu looked into his eyes and offered him a tilted, kind of dorky-but-still-infuriatingly-managing-to-be-handsome grin that showed off his perfectly white teeth. "I'd like for Mr. _'Dark and mysterious genie'_ to grant one of my three wishes, if it would be alright by him?"

Wonwoo almost wanted to laugh at how the nicknames the other made up for him never seemed to stop, but his curiosity by the other's request drew his attention more and he turned his body to face towards Mingyu more fully.

He wanted to tell Mingyu that he really was no genie and that he had to go, but of course Wonwoo didn't.

"Alright. Let's hear it." He heard himself say instead and Mingyu's smile suddenly looked slightly nervous, and his eyes glittered with a shy kind of anticipation as they looked into Wonwoo's dark ones.

"You see, when I woke up this morning I found a random stranger on my couch, drooling in his sleep," Wonwoo’s hand self consciously went up to see if he had any traces of drool on his face and was relieved to find that Mingyu was just messing with him. "And I stared at him and contemplated if I should throw him out, but then I realised that he was actually a pretty handsome guy and I decided that I'd rather wait for him to wake up by himself and see what kind of person he was and maybe hopefully get to know him a little.” Mingyu spoke calmly and slowly, and Wonwoo was almost impressed by the other's persistence and determination as he flirted so casually with him. “Well, my _wish_ would be to get that guy's number." Mingyu finished, his smile easy and playful, and Wonwoo had to admire the younger’s bravery.

He also might be a little flattered, but that wasn't relevant at all.

"After talking to him over breakfast, I thought he was pretty cute, and funny, and I was only a little disappointed that I couldn't get to know him better, but if I had his number..." Mingyu shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "I dunno, maybe I'd have a chance to see him again."

Wonwoo rubbed his lips together while he contemplated his options.

Mingyu was a bright and attractive person — not only in the aspect of appearance, although he was that too, but in the sense that he had a personality that drew people to him, and Wonwoo was no different than anyone else in that regard. Egoistically, he wanted to get to know Mingyu, but realistically — if he took a step back and looked at the big picture or thought about their relationship as how it would turn out in the long run — it didn't seem like such a good idea.

There was a reason Wonwoo didn't want to open up to Mingyu, because he wasn't a bright or a brilliant person. He was ugly, and selfish, and could a lot of times be nasty to the people he cared about, and he did and had done a lot of dirty and illegal things in his life and in the past. He dealt weed, for Christ's sake, and his and Mingyu's worlds were on entirely different planes of existence. They played roles in two completely different movies, and mixing the romantic comedy of Mingyu's life with his melancholic drama didn't seem like it'd make a very good cocktail in Wonwoo’s opinion. (He also knew that it would be Mingyu who would get the short end of the straw, as Wonwoo was sure to taint his life with the darkness he carried in his own heart.)

So part of him wanted to indulge Mingyu, let him pull him along on a fantastic journey filled with laughter and sweet kisses pressed against eager lips on early mornings and maybe even heartfelt confession and genuine promises whispered against heated skin or exchanged between trembling lips in the dark of night, but Wonwoo couldn't. In honesty, his heart was afraid, because he knew that if he allowed himself such happiness, he wouldn't come out of the ashes of their relationship after the flames had been extinguished alive. He knew that, but part of him still really really wanted to make him suffer through it all anyway.

The other part of him — the one part that helped him keep his cool whenever he was in danger or laying low as to not be exposed by the cops or caught in the claws of other dealers looking for him — was bitter with the entire situation. He'd only come to the party to sell and find new costumers, which he had, and while he was thankful that he'd been fed and had gotten to talk to Mingyu over breakfast, this kind of scene wasn't one out of his movie. This morning was only an odd second of a minute of all of the hours of his life, and he had no _reason_ to befriend Mingyu. It wasn't a relationship he could use to provide to costumers more efficiently or expand his business, and Mingyu wasn't even someone dense enough for him to take advantage of, so really, technically speaking, a relationship with Mingyu wouldn't show to be useful to him in any way, and thus there really was no reason for him to go along with the innocent freshman's request. This was the cold part of Wonwoo, the black tar that had tainted his heart many, many years ago and would never come off.

Mingyu was a slice of a life Wonwoo would never get to have, and while it was absolutely enticing to get a glimpse of, staring in through a window at everything he would never have for a longer time would only do Wonwoo more harm than good in the end, and he knew this very well.

Therefore he met the very kind and very charming guy's eyes and tried to convey his regret over not being born into the same world as him through his gaze.

"Sorry. I can't grant you that wish." Wonwoo watched the Mingyu face fall, the glint in his gaze dim and his smile drop from his face and Wonwoo felt a small twinge of guilt deep within his chest at the sight of such a bright sun burning out.

"Oh. That's..." Mingyu never continued his sentence and Wonwoo told himself that it was better like this. Being mean now just meant that he spared Mingyu the heartache he was sure to bring him in the future, and maybe, that would be the one thing Wonwoo could look back on later in life and think that he did right.

Awkwardly bowing his head slightly to finally excuse himself, Wonwoo turned to escape the suffocating atmosphere that had settled over them in the hallway, but Mingyu's arm on his shoulder stopped him and held him back and when Wonwoo turned around to look at him he was surprised to find a determined expression on the younger's face again.

"Hey, wait. Can I at least give you my number?"

Wonwoo blinked. He opened his mouth, then closed it, licked his lips and opened it again, only to close it again and suck on his bottom lip. He didn't know what was the correct thing for him to reply, but luckily Mingyu hadn’t expected him to answer so quickly, letting go of Wonwoo and suddenly appearing bashful as a light flush stained his cheeks and he began playing with his fingers, averting his eyes and letting them dart anywhere in the hallway around them.

"Look, I — I'm not _usually this insistent_ , I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable or something, b-but, I dunno — You might find me really weird for saying this, but I feel... really drawn to you and, and I would really like to get to know you, even though we just met and everything, but I —" Mingyu's face flushed darker when he realised he was rambling and Wonwoo watched keenly as the other embarrassedly cleared his throat and collected his thoughts, his voice a lot calmer and less rushed when he spoke again. "I think you're pretty cool. You seem like a cool person, and if I would've let you go without at least making an effort, I'm sure I would've spent the next two months regretting it. Probably longer to be honest. I'm kind of a _wallower_ , someone who turns things around and under and over again in my head until I can make sense of every angle of them and — sorry. Some people find it annoying. Minghao often tells me to shut up because I ramble when I get nervous."

By now Mingyu looked properly humiliated, like he wanted the floor to swallow-him-whole-already type of humiliated, and Wonwoo still couldn't find any words for him, and they stared at each other for a while, the freshman flustered and embarrassed and the senior perplexed and out of his depth.

Finally, Mingyu sighed and dragged a hand over his dark cheeks and through his nicely cut hair, messing it up quite adorably in the process.

"Just — Take my number? Okay? You don't have to write me, if you don't want to, but like I said, I'd feel frustrated with myself if I just let this chance slip me by." He said and looked into Wonwoo's eyes with a pleading expression that reminded Wonwoo of a puppy and gave him a hard time to refuse.

Not believing himself, Wonwoo licked his lips and nodded slowly. "…Okay." He answered hoarsely.

Mingyu released a breath of relief that Wonwoo hadn't known he'd been holding, and as he accepted Wonwoo's phone with nervous, jittery fingers and punched in his digits, Wonwoo watched his lips turn right back into a smile and Wonwoo decided that a smile definitely suited the other's face better than a frown.

"There. It's under Kim. Kim Mingyu." Mingyu said as he handed the phone back and Wonwoo played restlessly with the device in his hands, refusing to unlock the screen to check the newly added contact for himself even as he was itching to do so. Instead he showed his phone into his pocket and looked back up at Mingyu to give him a stiff nod.

"OK." He said and Mingyu returned the nod.

"Take care on your way home." He said softly and Wonwoo wanted to punch something (maybe cry, although he refused to admit that he sometimes did that) because of the overwhelmingly big heart of _Kim Mingyu_ that he'd been fortunate enough to meet in his life.

"Thank you. Bye..."

"Bye." Mingyu replied.

Wonwoo wondered why he had lingered and waited for the others reply before he turned the handle and went out the door.

 

When he finally stepped onto the asphalt outside the apartment complex and into the brisk air of late spring, Wonwoo exhaled. He pulled the stolen pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one to his lips before he fickled with the half-broken lighter he always kept on his person until he got a nice ember going on the tip of the stick. Inhaling the smoke into his lungs, Wonwoo felt the tension in his shoulders ease and he tilted his head back to stare up at the bright, clouded, grey sky.

His heart was still beating inside of his chest, and the feeling was extremely uncomfortable and made Wonwoo feel uneasy and restless. He wondered what the heck had just happened. Because of the way he lead his life, the things he did, and the people he hung around, Wonwoo had experienced many weird and unusual situations or interactions with people, and this morning definitely made it onto the list of _'weird shit_ ' that he'd compiled in his head over the last couple of years.

Shoving his hands into his pockets while keeping his cigarette secured to his lips with his teeth Wonwoo set off over the shared courtyard of the surrounding apartment complexes.

Automatically, his right hand wrapped around the cool metal of his phone in his pocket and Wonwoo found his steps slowing until he'd come to a complete halt only a couple of meters away from the door he'd just come out of.

He removed the cigarette from his lips and held it in his left hand as he fished his phone out of his pocket to hold it in his hands. He unlocked it and gazed down at the contact immediately popping up on the screen, reading the letters first before reading the numbers in bold beneath them.

_Kim Mingyu._

The other's smile flashed behind his eyes and the bright laughter of the freshman echoed like a distant summer memory in his mind, delightful and pleasantly warm.

Standing there, Wonwoo grew more and more upset with himself, because even as he'd decided that he wouldn't have anything to do with Mingyu, wouldn't drag him down into his dirt and wouldn't taint his promising life with the stain of his existence, he still wasn't a good enough person to stick to what he knew was right. He should've known that he wouldn't be able to leave Mingyu be and let the boy live the great life that was meant for him, because Wonwoo couldn't stop his fingers from flying over the display, and soon he was pressing the phone to his ear and listening to the tone of the signal reaching out for the device on the other end as he turned around and looked up towards the eighth floor of the building towering behind him.

It rang four times before Mingyu picked up, sounding flustered and nervous on the other end.

_"H-hello? Hi?"_

"Go out onto the balcony." Wonwoo said and listened to the other while it sounded like he stumbled his way through the apartment.

 _"Okay, I'm — I’m… here."_ Mingyu's head appeared over the reeling of the balcony far, far above Wonwoo's head, and Wonwoo took his cigarette between his lips so that he could wave up at the male peering down at him with his left hand. Mingyu waved back weakly after he'd spotted him, his hand falling onto the reeling and clutching the metal bar once he was done. _"... Hi."_

Wonwoo chuckled quietly at how light and breathless Mingyu's voice sounded over the phone, airy with a nervous excitement that made him wish he could've been able to make out the other's expression from where he was stood.

"Hey." He removed the cigarette from his lips and exhaled the vicious smoke that was gradually corrupting his lungs like he would soon be slowly and surely corrupting the freshman.

He wouldn't make any promises. The phone call was already enough to seal their fates, cross their paths, and join their roads with one another and all that. Wonwoo wasn't sure yet where they'd end up, but he figured he'd save his regret and guilt for the terrible destination of their future when they reached it.

"Jeon Wonwoo." He said into the phone, and he could hear the wind blowing up at the height, somewhere behind Mingyu's breathing through the phone against his ear. "My full name. Although, if you decide to save my number under my name rather than _'handsome stranger'_ , I admit that I'd feel a little disappointed."

Even over the phone, Mingyu's laughter sounded beautiful.

 _"I'll save it under_ 'two wishes to go' _, so when I call you later this week to ask you out, I will remember to remind you about them."_

"Alright." Wonwoo said, agreeing easily to the idea of going out with Mingyu. His neck was starting to hurt from being craned backwards in such a sharp angle, but he didn't want to look away from the tiny shape of Mingyu’s face eighth floors above him.

_"... Jeon Wonwoo."_

"Hm?" Wonwoo hummed at the other's mumble as he took another drag of his cancer stick.

 _"Nothing."_ It sounded like Mingyu was smiling and a voice in Wonwoo's head wondered how long it would be before he would be listening to Mingyu over the phone, just like this, but in tears instead. He shoved that voice into a corner of his mind and hid it behind a shelf.

_"So, this Jeon Wonwoo... How old is he? What more is there to know about him other than his name?"_

"Not convinced I'm a genie anymore?"

 _"Come on."_ Mingyu laughed and Wonwoo's lips turned upwards in a slight twist. _"Alright, fine, since I don't want to lose my remaining wishes, you still get to be a genie. But do you have genie years where you're from? Or like, do all genies just not age, or do you have some semblance of time measurement similar to us humans?"_ Mingyu talked easily into the line.

"We do." Wonwoo closed his eyes and just listened to the bright voice of the boy he would come to break.

 _"... So, how long_ have _you lived, Mr._ ‘Handsome stranger’ _?"_

"… Two million four hundred and thousand years."

 _"Okay."_ Mingyu chuckled, accepting the numbers easily, and Wonwoo could make out that he was now leaning his head against his arm while peering down at him when he opened his eyes again. _"… Twenty-four isn't that much older than me. That’s what? Five years, right?"_

Wonwoo inhaled the last part of his cigarette before he threw the remaining butt into the ground and revelled in the feeling of the nicotine now coursing through his body and making him feel relaxed and clear headed at the same time.

"Trust me. It's a whole different world, kid." He said softly and gave a bitter smile that the youth on the balcony couldn't see.

Sensing that the other was getting ready to leave, Mingyu straightened up upstairs while still looking down at him so far below.

 _"Can I text you?"_ Came the question through the phone, and Wonwoo pressed his lips together.

"... sure." He said after a while, and he could tell Mingyu was smart enough to understand that his pause had meant that even if the younger did text him, Wonwoo might just chose to not reply.

Calling Mingyu had been a whim, and Wonwoo was still unsure if he was really going to go through with this, subject Mingyu to him and get involved and invested in the other’s life.

 _"Okay."_ Came the calm answer and Wonwoo wondered if Mingyu wished he could see his expression too. _"Talk to you later?"_ He sounded uncertain, but in Wonwoo's opinion that was a good thing, because that meant that Mingyu might actually make the right choice and never contact him again, but his small prayer was squashed again when the other cleared his throat and spoke a lot more confidently through the line. _"No. I'll call you. When my classes aren't so busy in the week. I’ll call you, okay?"_

"Yeah. Okay." Wonwoo agreed pathetically and whispered a good bye that Mingyu returned before they both hung up.

They both remained in their spots a bit longer — Wonwoo down on the ground, looking up at Mingyu and Mingyu on the balcony looking down at him — and then they both waved shyly to one another before they actually turned back around to their own lives. Mingyu stepped back inside to clean the apartment, wake his roommate up and get some schoolwork done, and Wonwoo started on his journey back to his place where he planned to get high, fall asleep and waste another day away.

As he put the apartment complexes behind him, Wonwoo's mind was spinning with Mingyu — someone he hadn’t ever planned to meet, someone that was far too intact to be involved with him, someone handsome and interesting and dangerous  — and he clutched his phone inside of his pocket until his knuckles turned white. His heart was light in his chest as he walked, but his steps were heavy against the cold, hard asphalt, weighed down by the ominous burden of an ill fate he felt like he had been suddenly cursed with.

 

☄☄☄


End file.
